Chapter Six

A Chapter by Rayne~Drop.

Rule.

He lives in Hell; in both the literal and metaphorical way.

Traffic is killer, and trying to leave is impossible unless you have permission. And even though he does, seeing as it's part of his job, he has to wait for all of the other demons that think they can sneak past security.

What a bunch of idiots.

To get out of the place is like trying to get through a metal detector. When you're armed with guns. And wearing metal armor. It's impossible. But, on the other hand, they want to get out, for whatever reason. It's not like it's completely terrible.

Honestly, Hell isn't a burning pit of fire and torture, like most people think it is. That's probably a rumor started from the time one of the jails caught on fire, and the prisoners weren't allowed to get out. Due to the huge threat they posed to the citizens, all the demons in that jail were denied the right to evacuate while the fire department put the flames out.

Some guy named Dante managed to escape, and started that little rumor on Earth. The man even wrote a book on it.

Crazy right?

Rule frowns as Ceberus pulls on his leash.

“Wait a minute,” he orders, tugging the chain so the Hell Hound knows to sit on the ground.

Ceberus growls, but reluctantly obeys.

“Why are you mad at me?” he asks, scratching behind his familiar's ears. “There's a good Hell Hound.”

Slowly, they make their way through the line. Ceberus bites at other demons and their familiars when he's bored, which is more often then Rule would like. A very long half an hour later, they manage to reach the attendant's booth.

The traffic for leaving and coming into Hell can be equated to a train station. But instead of buying tickets, you get keys. And instead of riding trains, you leave through stairwells.

“Time to go back to work already?” the attendant asks, giving a

sympathetic smile.

“I don't mind it too much,” Rule says, giving her the note with coordinates of his desired location.

She nods, and produces a key chain with two keys on it.

“Good luck.”

“Always need it.”

He allows Ceberus lead them into the Corridor of Staircases and Doors. After inserting the key, it dissolves off of the chain and the door swings open. Letting Ceberus loose, he eagerly runs up the steps after him.

Rule is a Soul Collector.

In the official book, it's his job to take human souls down to the Gateway of Judgment. From there, it's decided whether or not they'll go to the more pleasant part of the Underworld, or Hell. There's also the option of getting reincarnated, but there's the risk of coming back as an animal and...Not many people want to do that.

Reality is a bit more twisted and confusing.

The only thing he has to do is get souls back down there. There's

no 'how' in the rule book.

That said, there are three ways to take a soul.

The first would be to get special permission from the Board of Soul Collecting, and obtain a list of souls to be collected over a period of time. This is what Rule does for a living. Seeing as not anyone has the right to do this, these Soul Collectors are more elite, and have the title 'Reapers.'

The second would be to bargain. This is commonly used among Soul Collectors, even if it does require a bit more effort.

In order for a demon to bargain for a soul, they must, in exchange, give them something or do something for them in return. This makes it harder to one to obtain a soul, but keeps demons from stealing souls left and right.

The third way is the most difficult and unused. This is betting.

Betting is all but gambling for your life. A human who agrees to a bet may have their soul taken away from them if they lose, but if they win...That's never a good thing. In a sense, the human has a weapon of mass destruction. The demon becomes indebted to them for the rest of the humans life.

This may not seem like a bad thing, but if reincarnated, the Soul Collector would be forced to serve the human for as many years as the soul is permitted to reincarnate.

If a strong enough demon was put under such a contract and lost...Earth would be in a lot of trouble to say the least.

Des.

“Des, are we going to the park today?”

She looks up from her sheet music, her latest composition. Des finds it relaxing to create music; even if she doesn't end up using the piece.

“Which park, Chella?”

Chella purses her lips and puts down her colored pencils. Her big blue eyes stare at her newest sketch with interest, eyebrows furrowed.

“Um...” It takes a moment, but her eyes suddenly light up with excitement. “Can we go to the one near the pretty forest?”

“Of course we can,” Des smiles.

“What forest, dears?”

Chella's head whips to the door entrance, and her long blond hair bounces against her back as she runs to greet their mother.

“Mommy! Des says she's gonna take me to go play on the

playground!”

“That's wonderful, sweetheart!”

Their mother, Mary, looks at Des and mouths a 'thank you.' She merely smiles in return.

“I have to leave with Jake to go out to dinner with some of his...'Friends'.” Des can tell from her expression that dining with anyone the step-jerk kept for company was much to be desired. “I love you, my dears,” she says, giving Chella a kiss on the forehead.

Mary leaves the room, presumably to change out of her work clothes.

Chella gets her looks from their mother; anyone with eyes and even half-way decent vision could see that. From the long, golden blond hair to the curious blue eyes, Chella was a splitting image of Mary when she was younger.

Des runs a hand through her own ink black, shoulder length hair, ends bleached white from a style picked out and modified from a magazine a few years ago.

It's not like Des wants to be different, not really. Des had never asked to have purple eyes. She doesn't want to be a freak of nature.

But it doesn't matter; it never did. What's done is done. The only thing she can blame that she knows of is her father's abnormal genetics; and he's been dead for quite some time now.

“Des, are you gonna get another tattoo?” Chella inquired.

“That depends. Got any cool ideas?”

“Yeah! Wanna see? I'll show you when we get to the playground if you wanna.”

“Which playground?”

Jake peeks into the room cautiously, as if to determine what battles would break out from his presence.

But Des isn't up for a fight, so she just shrugs and continues drawing a string of music notes.

“The old one by the forest,” Chella confirms.

Jake visibly pales.

“I don't want you going there, young lady,” he says.

“But why?” Chella whines.

“Kids have gone missing there before. I just...Don't want you to be one of them.” For a moment, Des can actually believe that Jake cares. Really, and truly cares. And in his own way, he probably does. But the he opens his mouth again, and any and all respect she may or may not have for him is tossed out the window. “The Devil will take you away. Do you want that?”

Des says nothing, but Chella, for once, doesn't relent in her verbal assault.

“Mommy says the Devil is a...Meto...Met...Metaphor!” she manages. “It's to explain all the bad things that happen!”

Jake's expression softens, but his mouth is set in a firm line. “I'm not saying you can't go play. Just don't go to that playground.”

“Okay...” Chella sulks over to her sketchbook and continues to

draw.

Jake purses his lips, but quickly ducks out of the room.

“How about you show me your ideas now?” Des suggest after a moment, wanting to rid that unhappy expression from her face.

It works. Chella's eyes light up, and she beams as Des flips through pictures. One in particular catches her eye, though.

A man stands on the ledge of a building, with the Earth cracked open below. It looks like angels are singing above, and rain is pouring from the clouds. The detail is amazing for a ten year old girl, but that's not what has her so unnerved.

“What's the man doing on the edge of the building, here?” Des asks.

“Trying to decide whether to jump, or just stay on the roof,” Chella says seriously.

“I...I see. And where exactly did you get this idea from?”

“Well, it was when we took that trip to the city,” she states, twirling her blond locks around her finger. “No one noticed, but he was on top of one of those skyscrapers. He looked down, and then jumped.”

“Chella...”

“Des, what do you think happened to him? Do you think angels saved him? Or did he go to the bad place?”

“Rescued by angels, most definitely.”

“Oh, okay. Cool!” Chella smiles up at her innocently.

“...What do you say we go watch Tangled?” Des manages to say.

“Yeah! I'll go pop the popcorn!”

“You do that.”

As Chella runs down to the kitchen, she can't help but think about things.

Maybe, just maybe, they aren't so different at all.

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© 2012 Rayne~Drop.

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Reviews

master squiggles

OH MY GOD, THIS CHAPTER IS SO F*****G COOL. This book is interesting as hell, and I really want to see where it's going. I... don't think you told me yet, but if you did, I FORGOT. :D So... yeah.

CEBERUS IS A WONDERFUL PUPPY

The beginning is reaaaaalllllyyyy interesting, by the way. I LURV EET.

Oh, and I love Des, but you already knew that. Chella is adorable and stuffs.

NO FAIIIIIIIIIRRRRRR. I want a tattooooooooo. Just sayin'.

LAWL. NICE PICTURE, CHELLA. Interesting. I like how you make her seem all innocent at first, and then... VOILA.

Again, this review is awful but I DON'T CAAAAAAAAARE because I'm hyper and I WANNA READ THE NEXT CHAPTER FHASFJAHSFK so yes. That is my excuse. >:3